Certain facilities, such as electric transformation and distribution substations, pose a potential hazard to both the public and wildlife. Occasionally, wild animals, such as squirrels or raccoons, may enter a transformer substations and short circuit a power line causing an outage. Chain link fences have been used to isolate the public, and to some extent, wildlife from electric transformation and distribution substations. Traditional chain link fences usually consist of a wire chain link screen or screen suspended between a plurality of suspension posts. Since the chain link screens are heavy and must be tensioned to maintain their structure, the supporting posts must be anchored to the ground, often by concrete back fills. Chain link fences have not proven effective in preventing the entry of squirrels and other small animals from electric transformation substations since small animals, particularly squirrels, are able to climb over chain link fences.
Occasionally, electrified fences have been used to keep certain animals, out of hazardous areas These electric fences generally consist of a bare electrically conductive element, such as a wire or a metal bar, suspended on poles. The electric element is electrically coupled to a charging device. Occasionally, an electrified fence may have more than one conductive wire strung between the poles. To keep the electrified elements taut, tension must be applied; thus requiring the supporting poles to be anchored to the ground. Furthermore, if the electrified element must be placed at a distance from the supporting poles, specialized electrically non-conductive attachment members have to be mounted to each pole for each electrified element. These attachment members tend to require considerable labor to install since they can only support one electrified element at a time. Furthermore, traditional support members often lack the physical strength required to ensure that the electrified elements of the electric fence do not become unattached during violet storms or unauthorized entry attempts. There is a pressing need for improved support elements that make the construction of electric fences less time consuming.